Page 30 of Guarded Hearts
When my stomach rumbled, he checked his watch. “Two o’clock.”
“Did you want to stop? I have an apple in my bag. I can just eat that if you want to keep going.”
He eyed me, disapproval coating his face. “You have a show tonight. You can’t survive on an apple for lunch.” With his water bottle in his hand, he seemed to be considering something. When he glanced up, his expression was determined. “I have a car. I can drive us somewhere—somewhere far—for lunch.”
Privacy. Other than the possibility of being seen in the car together, which we could explain any number of ways, there was no chance of being caught. My heart raced. I searched his face, trying to determine iflunchwas code for something else. Did I care if it was?
Not as much as I should.
“Yes,” I said, my voice breathless. “Yes.”
Chapter Thirteen
Pasha
The silence in the car was heavy. It was foolish to have suggested that we take off like two fugitives from the tour. I had no idea how I would survive the next seven weeks of close contact with Alyssa without being as close as my body craved. For the entire dance session, I’d been semi-hard, so aware of her I hadn’t picked up the count as quickly as I’d have liked.
“Where are we going?” she asked, breaking the quiet.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. We’d been driving for fifteen minutes, far enough that no one from the tour would be close by. Any farther and we really would be running away because I wasn’t sure we’d have time to eat and get back before my guarding shift started.
“How about there?” She pointed at a popular chain attached to a hotel.
I signaled and drove into the parking lot.
A hotel. Attached to the restaurant.
My mind was going places it shouldn’t, and I wondered if hers was too. An hour alone with her in a hotel room. We didn’t need to eat. We could feast on each other.
Could I ask her?
The same problems existed, the possibility of putting everyone in an awkward position, of Alyssa or me getting fired. This new HR company was even stricter than Laura had been about workers fraternizing, and even though I knew the rules, I hadn’t considered that risk seriously enough earlier. I’d been sure I could keep this fire between us from raging out of control. On top of that, Alyssa could lose the last ten years of credibility in the industry if Mia fired her.
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t ask, suggest, imply.Unfairto ask. Completely unfair.
She hadn’t gotten out of the car, and when I dared to make eye contact, I saw my own tortured thoughts reflected in her gaze.
“We have seven weeks until the wedding,” she whispered. “Five more weeks on tour. We might never see each other again afterward.”
“You could lose your job.”
“Only if someone finds out. If Mia is forced to make a choice.”
“Too risky.” I shook my head even as my resolve wavered. If she pushed, I’d cave. What I wanted and what I knew to be right were at war.
“We’d have to be careful for five weeks. Just five weeks. Once the tour is done, once we’re prepping for the wedding, no one will care anymore.”
The clock on the dash turned over, and my decision was clear, had been clear from the minute I’d realized the hotel was attached.
So simple. So easy. So dangerous.
“If we’re caught, I’ll tell Mia to fire me. I won’t let it be you.”
Alyssa stared in silence, and then she undid her seat belt, crawled into my lap, and straddled my waist. I got lost in the soulful depths of her eyes, a strange calmness settling at the decision we were making. If we were caught, I’d survive. Maybe I’d have to return to Russia, but I’d have enough money that going back wouldn’t be a financial hardship. I’d missMia, Tyler, and Victoria, but I couldn’t reject this sliver of something more with Alyssa. I’d never craved anyone like I craved her.
“You’d do that for me?” Her voice caught on the last word.
“Yes.” There wasn’t a doubt in my mind.
